1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and a method for beam selection and inter-beam scheduling in a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for selecting a transmission beam to achieve optimal transmission efficiency in a wireless communication system using a beamforming technique.
2. Description of the Related Art
To meet the continuously increasing demand for wireless data traffic, wireless communication systems are advancing for supporting a high data rate. For example, to increase the data rate, the wireless communication system is under development to enhance spectral efficiency based on communication techniques such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO).
However, as the demand for smart phones and tablet PCs increases and accordingly applications requiring much traffic increase, the demand for the data traffic is more accelerated and thus it is hard to satisfy the wireless data traffic demand merely with the spectral efficiency enhancement. To overcome this shortcoming, a wireless communication system using an ultra-high frequency band is attracting much attention.
When supporting the wireless communication over the ultra-high frequency band, the wireless communication system is subject to the increasing propagation loss such as path loss or return loss, due to frequency properties of the ultra-high frequency. As a result, the propagation distance is shortened because of the propagation loss and the service coverage of the wireless communication system using the ultra-high frequency band is reduced.
The wireless communication system using the ultra-high frequency band can expand the service coverage by alleviating the path loss of the propagation using a beamforming technique and increasing the propagation distance. By use of the beamforming technique, a transmitting stage can form a plurality of transmission beams of different directions. A receiving stage may form a plurality of reception beams of different directions.
As such, when using the beamforming technique, the transmitting stage and the receiving stage of the wireless communication system require a method for selecting the transmission beam and the reception beam so as to achieve optimal transmission efficiency.
Therefore, a need exists for an apparatus and a method for selecting a transmission beam to achieve optimal transmission efficiency in a wireless communication system using a beamforming technique.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.